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Scatman Crothers
| birth_place =Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Van Nuys, California, U.S. | resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Hollywood Hills, California | occupation = Actor, musician | years_active = 1932–1986 | spouse = Helen Sullivan (1937–1986) }} Benjamin Sherman Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986), known professionally as Scatman Crothers, was an American actor and musician. He played Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man and Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). He was also a prolific voiceover actor who provided the voices of Meadowlark Lemon in the Harlem Globetrotters animated TV series, Jazz the Autobot in The Transformers and The Transformers: The Movie (1986), the title character in Hong Kong Phooey, and Scat Cat in the animated Disney film The Aristocats (1970). Early years and music career Crothers was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and began his musical career as a teenager. He sang and was self-educated on guitar and drums. He was in a band that played in speakeasies in Terre Haute. During the 1930s, he formed a band, spent eight years living in Akron, Ohio, and performed five days week on a radio show in Dayton. The station manager thought he needed a catchier name, so Crothers suggested "Scatman" for his scat singing. He married Helen, a native of Steubenville, in 1937. In the 1940s, the couple moved to California. He performed in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Capitol released several of his singles: "I'd Rather Be a Hummingbird", "Blue-eyed Sally", and "Television Blues". High Fidelity Records released his album Rock and Roll with Scatman Crothers. He went on USO tours with Bob Hope. He performed with bandleader Slim Gaillard. According to the jacket notes of the Let Freedom Sing CD set, Crothers was part of the music group The Ramparts, who sang "The Death of Emmett Till" (1955), a song by A. C. Bilbrew. Film and television career Crothers made his debut in the movie Meet Me at the Fair (1953). He had roles in the film musicals Hello Dolly! (1969) and The Great White Hope (1970) before providing the voice of "Scat Cat" in the animated film The Aristocats (also 1970). He appeared in four films with Jack Nicholson: The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), The Fortune, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and The Shining (1980). He had the part of a fable-telling convict in the animated film Coonskin (1975), a train porter in Silver Streak (1976), a liveryman in The Shootist (1976), a ringmaster in Bronco Billy (1980), a baseball coach in Zapped! (1982), an angel in Two of a Kind (1983) and a magician in Twilight Zone: The Movie. He became the first black person to appear regularly in a Los Angeles television show when he joined Dixie Showboat. After The Aristocats in the 1970s, he found voice acting jobs as Meadowlark Lemon in the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon series and as the title character in Hong Kong Phooey. For three years he played the role of Louie the garbage man on Chico and the Man. He also had a part in the television series Roots. During his appearance on Sanford and Son he joined Redd Foxx for two musical numbers. One was a version of the standard "All of Me" in which he accompanied Foxx on tenor guitar. In 1966 an animated special from the Hanna-Barbera studios aired called The New Alice in Wonderland (or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?), an updated version of the Lewis Carroll story with Sammy Davis Jr. as a cool Cheshire cat; the special was followed up by an audio adaptation for HB Records, but with Davis signed to Reprise Crothers provided the cat's record voice. Crothers had guest roles on Dragnet in 1967, Bewitched and McMillan & Wife in 1971, Adam-12 in 1972 (as "George Strothers"), Kojak and Ironside in 1973, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Sanford and Son in 1974, Starsky and Hutch in 1977, Charlie's Angels and The Love Boat in 1978, Magnum, P.I. in 1980, and Taxi in 1983. Also in 1980, he was on two episodes of Laverne & Shirley as a porter. In the 1980s, he provided the voice of the Autobot Jazz on the television series The Transformers. He starred in three short-lived 1980s television series: One of the Boys (1982), Casablanca (1983), and Morningstar/Eveningstar (1986). Death Crothers died at the age of 76 in Van Nuys, California, after struggling for four years with lung cancer. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Awards and honors * Best Supporting Actor, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, for The Shining (1980) * Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1981 * NAACP Image Award * Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, 1987 (posthumous) Filmography * King Cole Trio & Benny Carter Orchestra (1950) (short subject) as Himself * Yes Sir, Mr. Bones (1951) as Scathman * The Return of Gilbert and Sullivan (1952) * Meet Me at the Fair (1953) as Enoch Jones * Surprising Suzie (1953) (short subject) * East of Sumatra (1953) as Baltimore * Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) as Smiley Gordon * Johnny Dark (1954) * Team Berlin (1955) (short subject) * Between Heaven and Hell (1956) as George (uncredited) * The Gift of Love (1958) as Sam the Gardner (uncredited) * Tarzan and the Trappers (1958) as Tyana * Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) Episode #4.2 "Don't Interrupt" as Timothy * Alias Jesse James (1959) as the railroad porter (uncredited) * Porgy and Bess (1959) as Crabman * The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961) as Musinga * Lady in a Cage (1964) as the junkyard proprietor's assistant (uncredited) * The Patsy (1964) as the Shoeshine Boy * The Family Jewels (1965) as an airport employee (uncredited) * Three on a Couch (1966) as a jazz band member (uncredited) * Alvarez Kelly (1966) as Bellhop (uncredited) * Hook, Line & Sinker (1969) as a corpse (uncredited) * Hello, Dolly! (1969) as Mr. Jones, a porter (uncredited) * Bloody Mama (1970) as Moses the caretaker * The Great White Hope (1970) as a carnival barker (uncredited) * The Aristocats (1970) as Scat Cat (voice) * Chandler (1971) as Smoke * Lady Sings the Blues (1972) as Big Ben * The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) as Lewis * Detroit 9000 (1973) as Reverend Markham * Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) as Cleveland * Black Belt Jones (1974) as Pop Byrd * Truck Turner (1974) as Duke * Win, Place or Steal (1975) as the Attendant * Linda Lovelace for President (1975) as Super Black * The Fortune (1975) as the Fisherman * Coonskin (1975) as Pappy / Old Man Bone (voice) * One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) as Turkle * Friday Foster (1975) as Noble Franklin * Stay Hungry (1976) as William * The Shootist (1976) as Moses Brown * Chesty Anderson, USN (1976) as Ben Benson * Silver Streak (1976) as Ralson * Mean Dog Blues (1978) as Mudcat * The Cheap Detective (1978) as Tinker * Scavenger Hunt (1979) as Sam * Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979) as Crazy Legs (voice) * The Shining (1980) as Dick Halloran * Bronco Billy (1980) as Doc Lynch * The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981) (made for TV) as Dewey Stevens * Zapped! (1982) as Coach Dexter Jones * Deadly Eyes (1982) as George Foskins * Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) as Mr. Bloom (segment "Kick the Can") * Two of a Kind (1983) as Earl * The Journey of Natty Gann (1985) as Sherman * Morningstar/Eveningstar (1986) (TV Series) as Excell Dennis * The Transformers: The Movie (1986) as Jazz (voice) * Rock Odyssey (1987) as Jukebox (voice) Television * The Adventures of Jim Bowie – episode – The Quarantine – Cicero (1957) * Bonanza – episode – The Smiler – Jud (1961) * The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo (1964) * Harlem Globe Trotters – George 'Meadowlark' Lemon (1970–1971) * Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color – Disney on Parade – King Louie (voice, uncredited) (1971) * Bewitched – episode – Three Men and a Witch on a Horse – Handler (1971) * The Lorax – TV special – Singer (voice, uncredited) (1972) * Nichols – episode – Eddie Joe – Jack (1972) * The New Scooby-Doo Movies – episodes – The Ghostly Creep from the Deep/The Loch Ness Mess/Mystery of Haunted Island (1972–1973) * Kojak – episode – The Corrupter – Gaylord Fuller (1973) * Hong Kong Phooey – 16 episodes – Hong Kong Phooey / Penrod 'Penry' Pooch (1974) * Mannix – episode – The Green Man – Mudcat (1974) * [[The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)|''The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)]]'' – episode – The Subway Show (1974) * McMillan & Wife – episode – Downshift to Danger – Floyd (1974) * Chico and the Man – Louie the Garbage Man (1975) * Sanford and Son – episode – The Stand-In – Bowlegs (1975) * Roots – TV miniseries – Mingo (1977) * Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Angie Dickinson – TV Special – Himself (1977) * Laff-A-Lympics – Hong Kong Phooey (1977) * CB Bears – Segment title narrator (1977) * The Skatebirds– Scat Cat (1977) * Starsky and Hutch – episode – Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road – Fireball (1977) * Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels – Additional Voices (1977–1980) * NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney – TV Movie documentary – Himself (1978) * Charlie's Angels – episode – Angels in Vegas – Jip Baker (1978) * Vega$ – episodes –High Roller & The Usurper – Rosey (1978–1979) * The Super Globetrotters – Nate Branch / Liquid Man (1979) * The Incredible Hulk – episode – My Favorite Magician – Edgar McGee (1979) * Laverne & Shirley – episode – Murder on the Moosejaw Express Part 1 & Part 2 – Porter (1980) * Magnum, P.I. – episode – Lest We Forget – Tickler (1981) * Trollkins – Additional Voices (1981) * The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island – TV Movie – Dewey Stevens (1981) * Jokebook – Main Title Singer (1982) * Benson – episode – In the Red – Rev. Tompkins (1982) * Casablanca – Sam (1983) * Taxi – episode – A Grand Gesture – Walt (1983) * This Is Your Life – episode – Scatman Crothers – Himself (1984) * The Transformers voice of Autobot Jazz (1984- 1986) * ''Paw Paws – Eugene the Genie (1985–1986) * ''The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters '' – Himself (1986) References External links * * Category:1910 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Actors from Terre Haute, Indiana Category:20th-century American male actors Category:20th-century American singers Category:African-American male actors Category:African-American male singers Category:American male film actors Category:American male singers Category:American male voice actors Category:Male actors from Indiana Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:Singers from Indiana Category:Scat singers Category:Challenge Records artists Category:Deaths from cancer in California Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Category:20th-century male singers Category:Male jazz musicians